So Long Hair . . . Thanks for Keeping My Ears Warm

In September 2009 I made a decision that would be a contributing factor in defining me up until the present.  That decision was to forego getting my hair cut for any foreseeable time (I believe the exact decision was something more like “fuck haircuts!” but end result was basically the same).  So my hair went from just being shaggy that September, to growing longer and longer.  Time passed, Bear regularly told me I was a hippy, I started dating Eliza, I eventually moved in with Eliza, I proposed to Eliza, and then I married Eliza, all the while my hair continued its progress and growth.  In September 2011 I did allow for a brief cut, though, this was more of a pre-nuptials neatening, than a true diminishing of growth.  All and all it kept getting longer.  Through sun and rain, through the quite indoor months of winters to the hot outdoor months of -summer with sweat beading down my long locks while I toiled in the garden.  It was becoming quite an epic mass of human head-fur.  In recent months, when not tied back, it hung freely down my back, reaching beyond the mid realm.  It was huge.

Alas, all things must come to pass.  Look, for those of you who’ve worn their hair long, you will know that it takes some fucking care to manage.  It’s work.  It is heavy and unruly and hot in the summer.  It takes hours to dry naturally.  It gets tangled and caught on things.  Simply put, it becomes a real pain in the ass.  As such, I decided that it was about high time that the long hair experiment came to an end.  And so, after giving my lengthy locks one last show (dressed as a pirate for our annual Staff Day at work) I chose to chop them mostly off last Friday (would have written this post sooner, but my folks were in town and I didn’t find a lot of free time). And now my hair is at a much more manageable  and traditionally masculine, length.

After having had long hair for nearly three and a half years for it to suddenly be short again is a weird transition.  Showers are much easier and quicker.  My head feels like ten pounds lighter.  My ears are always cold now (arguably this has been the most negative impact of getting my hair cut).  But overall, I am glad that I am done with long hair for now.  Perhaps some day I will let it grow again, but for the time being at least, I think that I shall let it live short.

That is all.  Here is some photo evidence of the transition from long to short:

This is me as a pirate, allowing my long hair one last show.

Here is what the long hair looked like down.

 

Here it is in a ponytail

 

And right after cutting the ponytail off

 

And finally, after getting an actual hair cut, cleaning up a bit.

~ by Nathaniel on March 1, 2013.